Valentin Hernandez Acosta

Valentin Hernandez Acosta (4 November 1925-29 June 1989) was the Minister of Energy and Mines of Venezuela from 1974 to 1979, succeeding Hugo Perez La Salvia and preceding Humberto Calderon Berti.

Biography
Valentin Hernandez Acosta was born on 4 November 1925 in San Fernando de Apure, Venezuela. In September 1948, he was one of the first petroleum engineers to graduate from the Central University of Venezuela, and in 1974 he became Minister of Energy and Mines, representing the country to OPEC. In 1975, he was one of the men taken hostage in the OPEC siege by Carlos the Jackal and the Arm of the Arab Revolution terrorist group, and he was appointed as the negotiator with the police due to both Carlos (a fellow Venezuelan) and Acosta being fluent in Spanish. Carlos commented that he approved of Venezuela's political stance and put Acosta with the "friendly" countries, and he was released with the neutral hostages in Algeria on the first stopover there. In 1979, he left office as energy minister, and from 1984 to 1989 he was ambassador to the United States; he died in Caracas in 1989 of a stroke at age 63.